Taken by Storm: The Troubled Science, Policy, and Politics of Global Warming

Mr. Essex and Mr. McKitrick have written a very impressive critique of the faulty science and pseudoscience behind the global warming theory. Particularly impressive is their explanation of the faulty modeling of the climate by the U.N. working committees. The book demonstrates how the collection of average temperatures is no way to model the climate whose relationships are nonlinear and are in constant disequilibrium. The authors demonstrate the uselessness of the U.N. climate models better than anyone else I have read. The authors to their great credit also expose many of the propaganda devices of the establishment and environmentalist proponents of controlling global warming. Way too many of the media, government and establishment information outlets are controlled by people who uncritically support the global warming hypothesis.Mr. Essex and Mr. Mckitrick might criticized a bit for their presentation. The authors discuss quite difficult concepts that might well be out of range for the average reader. Even a person like myself who has taken a number of college mathematics courses had to read slowly and carefully several of their chapters. I think the authors should have used gray boxes to carefully explain the more difficult concepts, as is done in some science textbooks. For less experienced readers the book by Michaels and Balling (The Satanic Gases) might be a clearer exposition.But the work is still stupendous.

Many professors of Climate Science realize that carbon dioxide generated by human activity has caused little or no global warming. Essex and McKitrick, even as outsiders to the field, provide the most entertaining exposé of climate modeling nonsense I have seen. The flaws in climate modeling, the absence of water vapor as the most important greenhouse gas in most enviro manifestoes, the fraud behind the "hockey stick" graph of temperature over the last 1,000 years that claims that the 20th century has been the warmest of the millenium, and the lack of coverage of the remaining ground temperature measurement stations are all revealed, and backed with citations to peer-reviewed journals. Even the dynamics of human group polarization are explained at length as the reason why this subject receives almost no serious scientific discussion. The hockey stick temperature vs. time graph was defended by its perpetrator (Mann). A new peer-reviewed article defends the work in the book and amplfies it: Stephen McIntyre and RossMcKitrick.Corrections to the Mann et al (1998) Proxy Data Base and Northern Hemisphere Average Temperature Series. Energy and Environment 14(6) 751-772. This is one of the few journals on climate that will consider articles with the facts: there is no correlation, as the books shows, with CO2 levels and lower atmosphere temperatures. http://www.uoguelph.ca/~rmckitri/research/trc.html The views in the book are supported by other authors in the books Hot Talk, Cold Science; Fragile Science; Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths; and The Skeptical Environmentalist.

Prior to reading Taken by Storm I considered myself well-informed about the topic of global climate change.I was surprised at how much more this book was able to explain. Essex and McKitrick do an excellent job of outlining the basic science, underlying math and pervasive lack of true understanding that underpins the issue of gloabl warming.Their tone is non-judgemental, unequivocal and principled. They ask fundamental intellectual questions, explain concepts using accessible examples and highlight how good science has been lost. It is a must read for anyone seeking insights about climate change and the broader interplay of politics and science.

Funny, irreverent. A good look at science and globalwarming. With only one year of chem eng under mybelt, I found some of the sections were a bit hardgoing. But, on the whole, I found the book quiteaccessible. Don't judge the global warming debateuntil you've read TAKEN BY STORM.

This is the best-written, most entertaining, most important Science book I've read in over 40 years! The authors draw on statistical theory, chaos theory, computer modelling, masses of scientific data and a whole lot of common sense to completely devastate the whole idea of "global warming" and any attempts to observe it, predict it or influcence it. They also wade into the issue of why this "Chicken Little" idea has gained such a grip on our politicians (and our purse strings).Only problem: I suspect this would be a tough read for anyone who doesn't have a strong science, math and statistics background. Even though I do have such a background, I found myself deciphering the "dummed down" versions into the real theory in order to understand what they were talking about. It all rang true to me, but I'm not sure someone who didn't have access to the "real" math would be convinced.